Insider Scoop: Weddings in the Woods

{Insider Scoop}

  Weddings in the Woods

On December 5^th, the Dead End BBQ Catering team and I woke up bright and early to prepare for our first wedding showcase of the season.

Weddings in the Woods: an escape to a place where wedding dreams come true.

Let me just say that we couldn’t have asked for a more perfect morning: crisp winter air and the sun was shining. With a venti Starbucks coffee in hand and the catering van packed to the brim, we made our way down the winding roads to the showcase site: Butterfly Gap Retreat.

Ranked one of Southern Living Magazine’s Best Places to Stay in the Smokies, Butterfly Gap Retreat is the perfect destination to escape to on your wedding day. Nestled in the woods of Blount County, BGR offers the secluded, outdoor feel with all of your modern amenities. If you haven’t visited this stunning hideaway, I highly recommend browsing their website or giving Mandy & Laura a call.

As we pulled into the drive, our friends were already getting the Studio set up. Charity Honeycutt, owner of Honeybee Events, transformed the open layout of the Studio into a display of fairytale-like tablescapes with the help of Campbell Tent & Party Rentals. 

The combination of soft pastel hues and ornate golds brought an element of sophistication and femininity to each setting. The dark wood dining tables and green accents brought the rustic warmth of the outdoors into the reception space.

Beautiful floral centerpieces from Sassafras adorned each table. Sassafras owner Ally King, arranged stunning designs highlighting soft pinks and deep reds. Ally offers everything from centerpieces to bouquets so be sure so visit her website.

By 11am, guests started arriving. Mothers with daughters, couples and best friends roamed the Studio stopping to talk with some of our friends in the business. Ashley Kent, from Barre Belle Yoga & Fitness, touched on the importance of health as couples embark on this new chapter of life. Located in the 100 Block of Gay Street, Barre Belle offers a variety of classes including barre and BUTI yoga to get you photo ready on your wedding day. Bridal pricing is available and it would be the perfect group activity for the bride and her bridesmaids.

DJ Ryan Ray with Special Notes Entertainment livened up the atmosphere with an array of musical stylings from motown to Michael Bublé. One thing I love about Special Notes is their diversity. Music is a huge part of the reception. It brings everyone together. You've got to make sure that you have tunes for all generations to get up and get down to. 

Guests slowly made their way to the back room, entranced by the aroma of East Tennessee's best barbecue. Now, of course I am biased, but what truly makes Dead End BBQ stand out in the catering world is our high quality of food and attention to detail. 

We created Weddings in the Woods in order to transport our clients to their wedding day. To the sounds, the smells and the tastes of the most magical day of their lives. Food is an essential part of planning a reception. 

And even more essential is tasting the food before your hire a caterer.

Intimate tastings like Weddings in the Woods allow our potential clients to sample every dish we offer and get a feel for our style of service without the pressure of a large wedding expo. 

I am so grateful to everyone who participated and made the event possible. We already knew y'all were amazing professionals but now you're friends.

And to the newly engaged, whether we become a part of your special day or you chose another path, I wish each one of you stress-free planning in the months to come and a reception like you've always dreamed of. And if things get too crazy along the way, I'll have a bowl of pimento macaroni and cheese waiting for you.

Best Wishes & BBQ,

Marlowe Whittaker

Catering Sales Manager

Meet The Team: John Settino

{Meet The Team}

      A George’s Blog Series

John Settino

Kitchen Manager – Dead End Maryville

Years Employed at Dead End: 4+ Years

Where Are You From: St. Augustine, FL

Tell us a little about yourself…

I was a nomadic child moving every 3 months, getting to see and meet a very diverse amount of people and things. I am always up for learning new skills and sharing any knowledge I have.

What is your favorite food to cook at home?

My favorite thing to cook is my mom’s pasta salad.

If you could add a new item to the menu, what would it be?

Salsa con Queso.

A little pico de gallo sprinkled on top of our white house queso and drizzled with our house salsa. Served with tortilla chips.

Share a memorable experience you’ve had during your time at Dead End…

Opening this store has been such a learning experience and I never thought I would have had such a wonderful opportunity. One time I was catering a job for Wacker down in Chattanooga, TN. Upon arrival, all phones were taken by armed guards and they put take on our camera lenses. As we drove into this guarded city of a worksite, we hardly saw any people. After setting up and lunch was called, over 1000 people came out of nowhere and flooded the cafeteria. We fed all 1000 people in a matter of minutes!!! I love being a part of a team that can handle that kind of volume while keep the quality of food and service outstanding.

Meet The Team Series: David England

{Meet The Team}

      A George’s Blog Series

David England

Catering Manager - Dead End Maryville

Years Employed at Dead End: 3 Years

Where Are You From: Portland, Oregon

Tell us a little about yourself…

I’ve been in the barbecue business for nineteen years. When I moved to Tennessee, I joined the team at Damon’s Grill in Pigeon Forge. I worked for that company for 16 years managing, catering and building relationships in the community. After Damon’s, I came to Dead End BBQ Knoxville to work in their catering department.

Now I am the Catering Manager at Dead End Maryville, bringing our East Tennessee barbecue to Blount County and spending as much time with my beautiful daughter Amiah as I can.

When you are at work, what is your “go-to” meal?

Spicy BBQ Wings.

What is your favorite saying that has been posted on the Dead End Sign?

“Loading…”

Share a memorable experience you’ve had during your time at Dead End…

Last fall, I catered a wedding in Friendsville at the family’s farm. It was going to be a casual get together in the field with friends and family to celebrate the newlyweds. They had asked for me to bring the smoker to give a little ambiance at the reception. Little did I know they were providing their own kind of ambiance for the ceremony… Right as the preacher said,” You may now kiss the bride!” two people from the wedding party stood up, rifle in hand and fired shots in the air. Yee-hawww!

Dead End BBQ Maryville Wine Dinners

{Dead End Wine Dinners}

     

You’ve got to be thinking…wine and barbecue??? Together???? No way.

Well the team at Dead End BBQ Maryville is pairing our smoked fare with wines from across the world and let me tell you, it’s a match made in heaven.

Each month, General Manager MacLean Bell and Manager Levi Beckelhimer meet up with our local wine distributor to plan for one of the most unique events in the area.

Dead End Maryville’s monthly wine dinners started out showcasing our traditional barbecue and pairing them with the perfect wine that we offered in the restaurant. It was a great way to educate guests on which wines complimented pulled pork best versus sliced brisket.

After 5 months of dinners and featuring every item on the menu, MacLean and Levi took their culinary prowess one step further and went off menu. Since March, they have been cooking up a five course meal, consisting of seasonal foods and smoked meats that will blow your mind. They have even expanded their wine pairing selection.

I attended last night’s dinner, anxious to see what new dishes the team had come up with. The previous wine dinner in April, with the watermelon gazpacho and smoked sausage skewers drizzled with chimmichuri sauce would be pretty hard to top.

The evening started off with a cold, smoked corn and buttermilk soup with pickled peppercorns. It was paired with the Bonterra Sauvignon Blanc which balanced out the intense spiciness of the soup. 

Second Course

The second course was a smoked salmon filet, glazed with our peach moonshine barbecue sauce and served on a mushroom and potato gratin. It was paired with the Zin Phomaniac Lodi Zinfandel.

I was only half way through and I was already starting to get full (mind you, the portions are huge and the wine glasses are filled to the top).

Out came the third course; a plate of beautiful St. Louis style ribs atop parmesan roasted cauliflower. The ribs tasted like they were fresh out of the smoker and were paired with the Filus Malbec from Argentina.

Fourth Course

A palate cleansing melon sorbet was served before the fourth course to prep our taste buds for the awesome dish to come. And honestly, with it being 96 degrees outside, I could have eaten a whole bowl of the sorbet and called it a day.

But I moved forward and graciously accepted the coffee and pepper crusted tenderloin that was set in front of me. The tenderloin was topped with a pineapple chutney and accompanied with fingerling potatoes and snow peas. It was paired with the Natura Carmenere from Chile, which is one of Levi’s favorite wines.

And for the finale, a goat cheese panna cotta served with marinated strawberries. They chose to pair this dessert with the Vilacetinho Vinho Verde, which was light and fresh to round out the dinner.

As usual, I left the dinner in awe and full. I am so lucky to work with such an amazing group of people like MacLean and Levi. They have created an exceptional experience that not only celebrates our style of barbecue, but it shows that barbecue knows no limits. They are always innovating and their hard work shows as every dinner continues to sell out.

If you are interested in receiving email notifications about upcoming dinners, please email Levi Beckelhimer at levi@deadendbbq.com

For more photos from the wine dinner, please check out our instagram and facebook.

Best Wishes & BBQ,

Marlowe Whittaker

Catering Sales Manager

DEBBQ Meets The Blog World

{George’s Blog}

Well, Dead End BBQ is entering into the blog world!  This is our first blog of many to come, discussing the art of barbecue, catering and where ever our journey takes us.

Barbecue has been a passion of mine since I was 14 in the backyard with my father on a grill.  Even though it was hamburgers and hot dogs, I got the bug.  I always gravitated towards a grill at any party, either to observe or get advice until I felt that I could command the grill myself.  Mostly I considered myself a backyard grill guy. That was until we started cooking on our Dead End Street.

In February 2000, my wife and I went to dinner with two other couples on our Dead End Street. That night the Dead End Society was formed!  We decided to smoke a whole hog on Memorial Day weekend.  I contacted a friend of mine and borrowed a smoker big enough to cook a whole hog.  Only two of us had ever cooked a whole hog before and the other had cooked a goat. We smoked the hog for 20 hours and had about 50 people come over to eat it with us!  It was a blast!

The next year I purchased a smoker big enough to smoke two hogs at the same time. That was my first big smoker; now I have nine! The second year we got a lot better and by 2002 we decided to enter a contest in Townsend, TN.  We won first place in three categories: Whole Hog, Chicken and Anything Butt (a KCBS category that judges anything except for the 4 main meats); we did a chocolate banana dessert! By 2004 we were the Grand Champions of that event. We thought we were pretty good!

So The Dead End Society went out on the national circuit and got it handed to us!  Our competitors were big time and we had a lot to learn.  Every weekend we would practice the art of barbecue until we finally got it right in 2007.  That was the year we won the State Championship of Tennessee in Cookeville!  

In 2008, we were selected to represent Tennessee at the Jack Daniel's World Invitational BBQ Championship in Lynchburg, TN. There were 11,000 teams overall that year and we finished 44^th in the world.  Our dessert, which was a vanilla bean, chocolate chunk, swirled with Jack Daniels ice cream, sandwiched between chocolate chunk chocolate cookies, finished 9^th in the world. We finished 12^th overall in brisket, 32^nd in chicken, and 36^th in pork. Our ribs were 66^th overall and that was only because there was too much Jack Daniels in the equation at the time the ribs were smoked.

After the Jack, we decided to open our first Dead End BBQ restaurant, which we did in October 2009.  We haven’t been able to do as many contests as we would like, but we will be out there some day soon!  

In the meantime, we have classes every year on the patio to share our knowledge of barbecue with the community. This year, we are having two classes. The first is May 16^th in Maryville, which is a beginner’s class and the other on June 20^th in Knoxville, which is a more advanced class. Click here to sign up. Hope to see you soon!

-George